Nfl

Long snapper Chard: 2nd tryout is not a long shot By Roger Cleaveland Republican-American

BURLINGTON — Derek Chard's decision at UConn three years ago to try his hand at long snapping has earned him a shot at the NFL for the second year in a row.

An all-league linebacker and versatile offensive lineman at St. Paul in Bristol, Chard was a little-used walk-on tight end for the Huskies in his first two years with the team, so he became UConn's long snapper.

The Burlington resident signed Wednesday with the New York Jets, and this weekend is taking part in a rookie mini-camp to begin the process of trying out for the NFL team.

Last year, Chard was signed by the Pittsburgh Steelers as a rookie free agent. He went to training camp, but was ultimately cut. This time around, he believes things will be different.

The NFL was in the midst of a lockout last summer so free agents signed very late and didn't have the chance to acclimate themselves to teams through mini-camps, conditioning programs and organized team activities. Chard felt like he went into Pittsburgh's camp "cold turkey" and was almost set up for failure. Still, he left inspired.

"Being at camp with Pittsburgh last year was

See CHARD, Page 5C

a good experience so I definitely feel like I am better prepared now, both mentally and in my skills, to compete for a job this time around," Chard said. "Last time, I just didn't know what to expect. I really worked on my craft, on my snapping, over the last year, and it has gotten a lot better."

While working this past year as a financial consultant for Merrill Lynch, Chard also worked out to stay in shape. He consistently practiced snapping the ball to his dad, Jim, or any willing friends either in his backyard or in a local gym where he measured out 15 yards on a court.

After hearing about a long-snapping guru, Chris Rubio in Idaho, Chard flew out there to work with him for a couple days on snapping the ball for punts, extra points and field goals. Then he went to a special teams combine in Arizona in March to showcase his abilities in front of NFL coaches.

He made 20 snaps with each graded as a success if he hiked the ball within a certain strike zone to a punter. He also made 10 field-goal snaps with success determined by whether he got the ball to the holder with the laces of the football turned out.

With only 30 snaps to prove himself, he received a perfect score under pressure.

"It is kind of the nature of the position," Chard said. "In any given football game, you are only out there for so many punt and field-goal snaps, and every single one has to be perfect. So in the context of the position, it makes sense. I did very, very well, and I think that is where my chance came from."

The Jets were impressed with what they saw and called him for a tryout in April. Last Sunday, they called his agent expressing interest in signing him to compete with current long snapper Tanner Purdum if Chard passed a physical.

"My ability has gotten to the point that I know I can do more with it," Chard said. "I just keep progressing. With the Steelers I was like, 'OK, let me go to camp and see what I can do.' Then I saw I could compete. In the past year, I have taken it to the next level to make sure I was prepared the next time I got my shot."

He believes that given a full summer to prove himself, he will earn not just a cameo appearance in the Jets' camp, but a long career. He said his bosses at Merrill Lynch have been understanding and flexible so he can fall back on that if he needs to. But his focus is on football.

"Obviously I want to make it this year to fulfill my dream of making an NFL team, but after that I definitely want to keep going," Chard said. "I want to make a career out of it. I love football, and I think everybody, whether they are playing football or doing something else, wants to be able to wake up every day and love what they are doing for work. This would certainly make me happy every day."

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